Red
by imadisneygirl
Summary: in the town of beacon hills, lydia martin's life could be described in one word: ordinary. this did not include participating in a late night search for a dead body with lacrosse co-captains, scott mccall and stiles stilinski (the latter, who she happens to despise). but she did, and she somehow ended up finding the body with no recollection of how the hell she did it.
1. chapter one: body

chapter one: body.

* * *

Lydia Martin's life could be described in one word: ordinary.

She was a normal seventeen-year-old junior, aside from being one of the only redheads in the town of Beacon Hills. She was a genius, though she didn't like to flaunt about it. She had her best friend named Allison who she had known ever since she moved to her town in ninth grade.

Everything was ordinary – but what happened today, was everything but ordinary.

"Did you hear?" Allison asked eagerly as she grabbed Lydia in the hall.

"Hear what?" Lydia replied, moving out of the way before she was shoved by her ever so kind classmates.

Allison couldn't stop grinning. "They found a body in the woods today."

"A body?" Lydia's eyes widened and she lowered her voice. "Wow, nothing like that ever happens here. Do you know who it was?"

Allison shook her head. "I heard it was female. The sheriff and his team and going out tonight."

"If they already found the body, why are they going out again?"

Allison's grin widened, if that was even possible. "That's the best part. They only found half the body."

"Oh no," Lydia replied, watching her best friend's face. "I know that look. I don't like it."

"We're going out to find the other half of the body!"

Lydia groaned. "Ugh, I knew it. Did you even think I would agree?"

She felt a pair of hands shake her shoulders from behind. "She knew you wouldn't agree, so that's why I'm here as reinforcement."

Lydia turned around to see Isaac, her childhood friend. It also helps that he's her next-door neighbor. But what he's forgetting to mention is that he's in love with Allison, so Lydia sincerely doubts that convincing her to come out tonight is the only reason he's here.

"Sure, reinforcement," Lydia muttered, shooting Isaac a look that left Allison oblivious.

"So, you are going," he said sternly and watched as she stomped her foot like a three-year-old. "The guys are going too, it'll be fun!"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Oh great, even better."

"You and Stiles can get along for an hour or two," Allison chuckled.

"Of course, we can," Lydia nodded, "as long as he gets his head out of his ass and isn't his usual cocky self."

"And who is this you so fondly speak of, Red?"

Lydia closed her eyes to avoid seeing both her friends snickering faces and whirled around to see none other than Scott and Stiles, resident co-captains of the lacrosse team, king jocks of this high school and also Isaac's best friends. She's also known them since pre-school, but was never very close. She had no issues with Scott, he was a total sweetheart, but for some reason, she's never gotten along with Stiles.

"You," Lydia replied bluntly.

"I would hope you could be a little bit subtler but what was I thinking?

Lydia grinned. "Oh, that's the thing, you and thinking is a little bit dangerous so you don't do it often."

"Well then," Scott interrupted before Stiles could retaliate, because he knew his best friend well enough to know he always had something witty on the tip of his tongue. "Are we all in agreement for tonight? I'm dying to do something normal for a change."

Allison furrowed her eyebrows. "Something normal?"

Scott's face panicked for just a second before Isaac spoke up. "Figure of speech! You know, with school and everything, this is just really exciting."

"Oh, right, of course," Allison replied, once again, completely oblivious. "So, we'll meet at the entry of the woods at 10?"

"Sounds great!" Isaac smiled at her, "we'll see you there. And you, Red," he narrowed his eyes at Lydia before tagging along with Dumb and Dumber (Lydia secretly still loves Scott). Also, she becomes very irritated at the nickname "Red" because it's what Stiles has called her ever since they decided not to become friends and bicker all the time instead.

Lydia's eyes glared at Allison until she finally dragged her eyes away from Isaac. "You'll be fine," the brunette reprimanded, "plus, we'll have some big, strong guys with us."

"I rather be doing homework," Lydia grumbled but followed Allison to class nonetheless.

 **...**

"I don't think I wore enough layers," Lydia muttered as soon as she stepped out of Allison's car. She unhappily dressed for the occasion in all black but obviously it wasn't enough considering she could already see her breath.

Allison smiled at her, fixing Lydia's beanie on her head. "We won't be out here for long."

"Have any of you thought about what happens if we actually find the body?" Lydia raised her voice so the boys exiting Stiles's car could listen. "Because how the hell are we supposed to explain that?"

"That's easy, Red," Stiles replied nonchalantly. He was pulling a thin jacket over his flannel shirt and Lydia smirked because she knew he'd be freezing later. "I call my dad."

Scott flinched. "Oh, he's gonna be so pissed."

"But not surprised," Stiles quipped, "I'm the reason he has blood pressure issues."

Allison laughed and Lydia cracked a smile – it was sort of funny. They watched as another car pulled up beside them and out bounced Kira. She was also Scott's girlfriend and normally attached at the hip with Malia, Stiles's girlfriend. Unlike Malia, Kira was actually nice and liked by literally everyone. She had a bubbly, awkward personality that you just had to enjoy. Malia, on the other hand, was another person Lydia couldn't stand, though she actually tried to be polite. She wasn't all bad, just had her moments. Kira and Stiles usually kept her in check, which everyone really appreciated.

"Hey!" Scott greeted his girlfriend, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. "Malia didn't want to come?"

Kira shook her head with a smile. "No. She said, and I quote, 'I would rather stick needles in my eyes than spend my night in the forest looking for an old, dead body.'"

"Sounds like Malia," Isaac snickered. "Okay, let's get going, it's cold."

"How can you be cold with that ridiculous scarf?" Stiles rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I hate it, it's hideous."

Isaac slapped the back of his head, making his way into the lining of the forest. "You're hideous, shut up and let's go."

They all made their way into the forest, maneuvering around the branches and stumps. It was cold and they all knew it, but no one was going to admit it now. "Seriously, what are we eve doing out here?" Lydia muttered, a good ten minutes into their hike. She said this right before she was whacked in the face by a branch that Isaac let fly out of his grasp. "Shit!" She cried, clutching her eye in pain. "For fuck sakes Isaac."

"I'm sorry, Red," Isaac bit his lip, obviously trying to hold back a giggle.

"Are you seriously laughing right now? I'll kick your ass to hell and back, Curly."

Allison pulled her away to the side. "Hey, let me see it," Lydia pulled her hand away but couldn't open her eye because it hurt too much. "You're bleeding," she sighed.

"The sheriff is about to find another body and it's going to be Isaac's, I swear to god," Lydia replied angrily.

"She's so feisty," Stiles said from behind her. "I have a first aid kit in my jeep, I can take her back," Lydia's nose turned upwards. "Or you can bleed all over this damn forest," Stiles rolled his eyes.

Lydia sighed. "Okay, fine let's go."

Her vision was blurry as she tried to make her way back and the stumps sticking out of the ground weren't helping. "You can grab onto me if you want."

Lydia tried to glare at him with her eye that was available. "I can walk just fine, thanks."

"Alright," he smirked. Gladly for her, they hadn't made it very far from their cars so they were back in an instant. She leant up against his jeep and waited until he pulled out some supplies to wipe up the blood. "I think you've stopped bleeding, did you want a band aid anyway?"

Lydia was about to say no, she could feel it. But then it was as if her senses were turned off completely. She couldn't even see Stiles who was right in front of her but could hear his voice as if it was in the background. Her senses were unfocused and she found herself walking right back into the forest.

"Lydia, what the hell?" Stiles rushed to lock his jeep back up and follow her. "What are you doing?" He was astounded that she either didn't want to hear him at all, or was pretending not to. "What the hell is going on?"

Eventually, Stiles just stopped talking to her because she never replied and just kept walking. So. he followed her quietly, making sure she didn't trip and die or something. After a few minutes, she stopped.

"Finally," he muttered. "Mind telling me what that was all about?" He finally caught up to her and caught sight of what she was looking at: it was the half of the dead body they were looking for. "Holy shit Lydia, what the hell?"

And then it was as if the switch was turned back on and she snapped out of whatever fugue state she was in. Stiles literally watched the light turn on in her eyes and become clouded with confusion.

"Stiles? What are we doing here?" She made the mistake of looking in front of them and gasped, jumping away immediately. "Holy shit! How did we find this?"

Stiles stared at her slowly. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" She said, looking scared.

"You led us here," he replied. "You literally went into a fugue state; couldn't hear a word I was saying. You found this body, Lydia."

Lydia backed away from the body. "I don't remember," she responded quietly. Stiles could see the fear on her face.

"I'm going to call Scott."

 **...**

"So, what happened?"

"Dude, she was literally out of it. It's like she was possessed. I don't think she even knew I was with her, it's like she was purposely trying to find the body."

"And you think she's supernatural? I don't see it."

"I didn't think you were supernatural, but here we are," Stiles replied, rolling his eyes.

"She's not a werewolf," Scott responded. "I don't know what she is."

"I don't either," Stiles said, staring at Lydia from where she was huddled with Allison and Isaac, still shaken, "but I know she's something."


	2. chapter two: avoidance

chapter 2: avoidance.

* * *

She still didn't know how it happened. It was still unexplained and just the thought made her head hurt.

It was the next day and she was in biology class, completely unfocused.

After the happenings of the night before, Stiles called his father, who was, to say the least, furious. After a short lecture, the sheriff ordered all teenagers to go home and they did with little discussion. Lydia, for one, didn't know what to say. Allison tried to make conversation and make sense of what happened, but after mostly one word answers, she gave up.

"Miss Martin?"

Lydia's neck snapped in the direction of her teacher, who did not look impressed.

"Could you at least pretend like you're interested?"

"I'm sorry," she replied, smiling sheepishly and pointedly avoiding all the gazes on her. She snuck a peek to her right and saw Scott, watching her with his sad puppy eyes. Stiles had pulled him aside as soon as the rest of the group found them so he no doubt explained everything that happened and she couldn't deal with him staring at her like that.

As soon as the bell rang, she saw Scott slowly make his way in her direction so she grabbed her things and raced for the door. Unfortunately, something was already blocking her way.

"Hey Lydia, can we talk?"

It was odd.

Stiles never called her by her first name, nor did they ever "talk". He looked concerned, which just made it weirder.

"I have to go, sorry!" She rushed, literally pushing past him and speeding down the hall. She knew they both wanted to talk about it, but she didn't even know what to say. She couldn't explain it.

She didn't realize where she was going, she was so invested in her thoughts. It took another minute for her to realize she was outside, near the trail the students use to run. It was a nice area surrounded with trees, but she didn't mean to come here. Her feet kept moving, closer and closer to a large tree, until she peered around it.

Lydia gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth.

It was another dead body. It was tied to the tree, throat ripped open. Lydia knew what was going to happen before she fell to the ground and emptied her insides.

It took another second for her to grab her phone and dial Allison's number.

"Lydia? Where are you? I've been waiting for you in the cafeteria for ten minutes."

"Ally, help me please!"

"I found another dead body."

There was silence. "Where are you?"

"Near the trail, by the trees. I'm freaking out, I don't know what to do."

"Call the sheriff, I'll be there soon."

So, she did as she was told and patiently waited after putting a large amount of distance between her and the body. How was she going to explain this?

It wasn't long before she saw a blue jeep pull up, with Scott, Stiles, Isaac and Allison piling out.

"Lydia!" Allison said, rushing to give her a hug. "Are you okay?"

Lydia pulled away from her. "No, I'm not okay! I'm very far from okay! Why does this keep happening to me?" She pointedly landed her eyes on the boys and Scott somehow looked a little guilty.

"I'll call my dad," Stiles muttered, already reaching for his phone.

"Don't bother, I already did," Lydia replied and watched the unamused facial expression he gave her. "Why did you bring them anyway?"

Allison frowned at her tone. "I was with Isaac, he called them."

"Okay," she replied slowly. She wasn't actually mad at Allison, she was just so overwhelmed and she had no idea why this was happening. It was the second time in twenty-four hours and she could see on all their faces, just how confused and curious they all were and she couldn't take it anymore. "I can't do this," she muttered, running her hands through her hair, "I can't, I can't, I can't," she could feel tears clouding her vision and she covered her face.

"Hey, Lydia," Isaac whispered and he was by her side in an instant. "Don't cry, it's okay."

Lydia choked back a sob; she couldn't help it. He hugged her and she buried her head into his chest and hid away from the world. "Isaac, I want to go home."

"Okay," he replied, placing a kiss on her head. Allison stood beside him, absolutely hypnotized with how he was treating her. "Stiles, do you mind taking her home?" Lydia didn't hear a reply but when she felt Isaac shift her loser to the keep, she figured he agreed. "Thanks man," he responded as he helped her into the front seat, "I'll come check on you later, okay?" The look in his eyes said he wasn't kidding and he'd be there as soon as possible. "We'll wait for the sheriff and give him the run down. You'll be okay, love you," he nodded at Stiles before closing the door.

Also, the last thing she wanted was to be in a car alone with Stiles bit he was relatively quiet and kept his eyes on the road. She was also a little embarrassed of all the tears, especially in front of him.

"Can we talk now?"

"No."

She saw him roll his eyes and tighten his grip on the steering wheel. "How did you find that body?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed.

"Did you just walk there? Were you in that weird state thing again? Why did you go there?"

Lydia whirled to face him. "Can you stop with all the questions? I don't know, Stiles."

"Okay, well this is pretty fucked up so you can't blame me for being curious."

"Sure, I can," she replied bitterly, "something is obviously happening because you and Scott are asking a lot of questions and looking guilty for some reason," Stiles glanced at her quickly before she continued. "Don't say it's not true."

He pursed his lips. "I wasn't going to say that."

"Then why do you keep asking so many questions if you already seem to know more than I do?"

"I don't know more than you do, Lydia," he deflected but she could see right through him.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Do you know what's happening to me? And don't lie to me."

"I don't know anything Lydia!"

"You can't even look at me when saying that," Lydia scoffed. "Stop the car, I want to walk."

It was Stiles's turn to roll his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

"So help me God Stilinski, if you don't start telling the truth right now, I'm jumping out of this car," she responded with the utmost seriousness in her voice. He glanced at her right before pulling into her driveway and placing the car in park. "Stiles, please, I don't know what's happening," she begged, "if you know something, please tell me."

Stiles narrowly avoided her eyes. "I swear I don't know what's going on with you."

"But you know something?" She prompted.

"Lydia," he groaned, rubbing his temples.

"No, you know what?" She yelled, grabbing her bag, and swinging the passenger door open. "I'm so done with your bullshit, I liked it better when we didn't talk! Goodbye, Stiles!" Stiles kept a neutral expression and Lydia stared at him from outside the car. "This is so stupid," she scoffed and slammed the door.

Stiles sat in the car and watched as she angrily made her way inside her home. He actually knew so much compared to her but he just couldn't find it in him to tell her.

Once you know, there's no going back.


	3. chapter three: party

chapter three: party.

* * *

The next few days were fairly repetitive.

Lydia buried herself in her books and studies and avoided anything that didn't have to do with school or Allison. She even steered clear of Isaac, because wherever he was, the dynamic duo wasn't far behind. It wasn't that hard; everyone stopped asking questions after her latest freak out. She was embarrassed at first but she has absolutely every right to lose her shit, and they realized it.

She was doing such a good job at avoiding, but then she ran into Scott after second period.

"Hey Lydia," he greeted her politely. He was scratching the back of his neck and wearing that adorable, nervous crooked smile; it made her feel like a jackass for ignoring him the past few days.

Lydia smiled in return. "Hi Scott, how's it going?"

"Yeah, it's going. Listen," he started and Lydia started to regret this conversation. "I want to apologize for what happened last week. We handled it really badly and we should have been there for you. I know it must have been really scary, I'm really sorry, but I do want you to know I am here and I always just want to help you."

Lydia was actually speechless.

That was not where she was expecting this conversation to go at all.

"Oh, um," Lydia stuttered, "that means a lot, Scott. Thank you."

A large smile spread across his features. "I hope this means you'll stop avoiding me now?"

"Was it that obvious?" Lydia bit her lip, embarrassed.

"Only a little bit," he joked, nudging her side. She was amazed at how easy it was to talk to him, and wondered why she didn't do it more often. But then she saw Malia strutting in their direction and she remembered why.

She made her way up to the duo, standing next to Scott with a scowl. "Good morning freak show, find any dead bodies lately?"

Lydia was a little caught off guard because although it was no secret what happened, no one was going around spreading it to the world. She could only assume Stiles shared it with her.

"Not today, but it's still early," Lydia replied sarcastically. The last thing she wanted to do today was deal with Malia, of all people. If she was avoiding Stiles and his bullshit, that definitely included his obnoxious girlfriend.

Malia frowned, turning to Scott. "Is she bothering you?"

"No Malia," Scott replied. He looked polite and uncomfortable but an irritated tone was underlying in his voice. "We're talking, we're friends."

Her facial features contorted in disgust. "Oh, ew, you can do better."

"Malia, seriously, get lost. It's too early for your bullshit," said a voice from behind Lydia. She quickly discovered it was Isaac, with a completely straight face.

Malia rolled her eyes. "Stiles is not going to like that."

"I really don't care, good bye," he sassed before she flipped her hair and walked away. "God, she's terrible."

Lydia's eyes were still comically wide and she finally let out that laugh. "Thanks," she nudged him and he smiled, "but I really have to get to class. I'll see you guys later?"

"Will you be at Danny's party tonight?" Scott asked.

"Yes! I think Allison mentioned something about that," Lydia didn't miss the excitement in Isaac's face. "I'll see you later, lover boy," she winked. "Bye Scott!"

 **…**

Allison liked to drink, it was no secret.

They didn't have parties that often, but when they did, she would drink and dance and have fun to her hearts content. It was usually easy because Lydia always tagged along and had a few drinks, if any. She was always there to watch her back and make sure she was safe.

Somehow tonight, the roles reversed.

As soon as the two girls reached the party, Lydia went straight for the kitchen. She made herself a drink, finished it, then made herself and Allison another.

"Hey, you okay?" Allison had asked her, watching her warily. This was unusual behavior for the redhead. "You don't normally drink this much."

Lydia gulped down another cup. "I've had a shitty week, sue me."

Allison raised her cup to touch hers in understanding. "Let's drink to that."

But Lydia didn't pace herself like she normally did. She just kept drinking to the point where she couldn't even remember why she started and that's exactly what she wanted. She didn't want to feel any of her emotions of worry and dead, and she didn't want to remember anything that happened this week.

Lydia soon found herself dancing with her best friend, Allison was drinking but pacing herself because she wanted to make sure Lydia was safe and didn't go overboard. She knew she had been through a lot lately and knew Lydia well enough to know she might go to extreme measures to deal with it.

Soon enough, Isaac came to join them on the dance floor and Lydia threw her arms around him excitedly. She was blabbing about how happy she was he was there and how much she loved him. He shot Allison a look, all the while hanging onto Lydia's waist so she wouldn't fall over.

"She went straight to the bar today. Think she drank her weight in tequila."

"Tequila!" Lydia giggled, removing herself from Isaac and making her way back into the kitchen. She walked straight for a tipsy girl.

Allison sighed, getting ready to follow her when Isaac grabbed her wrist gently. "Scott is in the kitchen. Want to dance for a little?"

She smiled, taking his hand.

Lydia watched her two best friends from the door, smiling to herself. It was about damn time something started.

Then she remembered how much she liked tequila.

She stumbled around the kitchen, avoiding people she didn't talk to, until she grabbed the half empty bottle of amber liquid. She took a sip straight from the bottle; she wasn't planning on setting it back down anyway.

"Hey Lydia!"

Lydia smiled at the familiar voice of Scott and his adorable smile.

"Hi Scotty!" She giggled. "I'm a little drunk," he looked amused, "I'm allowed, right? I can get drunk if I want to."

He nodded as he made his own drink. "Of course, you can. After the week you've had, I would do the same thing."

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him with such pride. "Thank you! That's exactly what I said! God Scott, you're so understanding," she mumbled happily. "How are you so good with people? I feel like I can tell you anything."

"Good, I want you to tell me everything you feel the need to," he replied, and he was still smiling.

With the alcohol in her system, and that stupid smile of his, she almost wanted to lean over and kiss him. But she wasn't drunk enough to forget his girlfriend, or how nice of a friend he was to her.

"Sometimes I feel like I can't talk to anyone," she found herself saying. "Finding the bodies was actually so traumatizing, but I don't—I don't," for some reason, her eyes were filling with tears and her high from the alcohol was crashing.

Scott immediately set his drink on the counter and wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, no, don't cry. Come here," he led her around the kitchen and sat her down on the stairwell. "I'm listening," he said, while right side of his lips quirked at the fact she still had her tequila bottle.

"I just don't understand why that happened to me. How did I find them? How is that even possible? And it's so scary because I can't remember a thing. It's like completely erased from my mind and that's not normal, Scott," she explained desperately. She could feel herself sobering up, but still talking wildly, which she would never do if she was completely sober. "I'm so scared."

Scott started to look uncomfortable for the first time since they met up tonight. "Lydia, there's a lot of stuff going on right now. A lot of stuff that can't exactly be explained."

"What does that mean?"

"I think what happened to you, happened for a reason. I don't think it was random, but I just haven't figured it out yet. I'm trying to answer all these questions Lydia, I swear. I'm trying to figure this out for you. Stiles has also been help—"

Lydia's eyes narrowed. "Stiles?"

"Yeah," Scott trailed off, not liking the look on her face.

"I asked him if he knew something and he wouldn't tell me! He saw how much I was struggling and he kept his fucking mouth shut?"

Scott flinched at her tone. "It's a little bit more complicated than that, Lydia. There's a lot of—"

"Right," she rolled her eyes, "a lot of stuff I don't know about because no one will fucking tell me. Just fantastic. I need another drink," she muttered, grabbing her bottle and making her back to the kitchen. There is where she tried to drink her body weight in tequila and anything else she could get her hands on, which admittedly was a terrible idea.

She started to forget how bad of an idea it was when she started talking to a cute boy who caught her attention. She didn't recognize him, but he smiled at her and through her drunken haze, that was enough to accept the drink he gave her and make their way to the dance floor.

She wasn't much of a dancer, but tonight, she found it so easy to move her body to the beat of the music. It was easy for a period of time, until she found herself getting tired much quicker than she should be. She tried not to think much of it, until she was suddenly dizzy and nearly falling over to the floor. The boy, who she couldn't remember the name of, had no problem grabbing her tighter to keep her upright.

But it was like her eyes didn't want to stay open anymore and she couldn't hold herself up anymore.

"Lydia?"


	4. chapter four: almost

chapter four: almost.

* * *

It was when she felt her arm being grabbed by the unknown voice that she knew something was wrong. The sudden movement made her nauseous and she whirled around to see Stiles.

Her eyes widened as she clutched his arm desperately. Her grip quickly started to loosen as she became dizzy and disoriented.

"Hey," she felt an arm turn her around slowly, but it felt like it was happening so fast, she almost fell over. "What the fuck?" He muttered, grabbing and pulling her closer to his body.

She saw it was Stiles, but he was blurry and she was starting to get nervous.

"Lydia, are you okay?" He asked but she couldn't find it in herself to reply. She managed to shake her head and th at was enough to set his face in a stony glare.

The boy Lydia had been dancing with grabbed her arm roughly. Stiles recognized him as an older senior named Alex. "Sorry man, she's mine for the night," he managed to pull Lydia from Stiles's grip when he was focused on her face.

"Are you dumb? Look at her, she's not okay," Stiles snapped in response, not liking the way he was holding her.

The boy smirked. "She seems perfectly fine to me. Plus, I just gave her something to relax."

Stiles shot him an incredulous look, realizing just how much danger Lydia could be in. This also seriously pissed him off because although he didn't always like her, who the fuck does that to a girl?

"What the fuck? Did you drug her?"

"No," Alex scoffed but he tightened his grip on Lydia and she let out a whine in her disoriented state.

Stiles's eyes widened and he ripped Lydia out of his hands. It was rough, but Alex still didn't let go completely. "I swear to God, if you don't let go of her right now, you are going to seriously regret it," Stiles threatened, his eyes glaring as he held onto one of Lydia's arms in a death grip,

She could feel the pain radiating through her arm from both sides. In her mind, her brain was screaming at her to get away from this guy she hardly knew, but she psychically couldn't move. She wanted nothing more to throw herself at Stiles, but her limbs weren't functioning. The only thing she could do is stare at Stiles with her wide doe eyes and sigh in relief when she saw Scott and Isaac creep up with confused expressions.

"Dude, what's happening?" Scott asked worriedly, placing a comforting hand on Stiles's shoulder. It was then he noticed the iron clad grip on Lydia coming from both parties and his face hardened.

"He drugged her!" Stiles yelled, not able to contain his fury anymore. The music from the party was still loud but Scott and Isaac heard him loud and clear.

Isaac instantly sprung into action, shoving Alex away and forcing him to let go of Lydia. She stumbled into Stiles's chest and he hurried to grab her and keep her standing.

"You fucking drugged her?" Scott seethed. It wasn't often that Scott swore, but when he did, it was a sign that he was really fucking pissed. "How could you do that? Were you not raised right?" He egged him on, easily cornering the guy. "Did no one teach you that when a girl says no, it fucking means no?" He screamed and suddenly, he was no longer in control. His breathing accelerated, as did his heart rate. He couldn't see the color of his eyes, but he knew they had turned amber. He knew no one could see him like this, but he was just so angry, he had no control.

Isaac was suddenly beside him, pulling him back. "Scott! Listen to me, you need to calm down," he told him assertively, staring him down in hopes that they wouldn't have another fiasco tonight.

Scott whipped around and locked eyes with Lydia. She was somehow still conscious and her eyes widened at what she saw. Stiles quickly clued in and gently shoved her head into his chest but he could hear her mumbling and flinched; that would be another problem for another day.

"Get this guy out of my face before I rip him to shreds," Scott hissed to Isaac. He looked up at the taller boy and he was finally in control of his emotions again. "I'll deal with him another day."

Isaac nodded and pushed the older boy out of the room, towards the front entrance. Lydia could hear his reprimanding voice, but couldn't make out the words. After seeing what she saw, she couldn't make out any words. She heard Stiles; she had been drugged. But what she saw was real, right? Her head was starting to pound, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

This was too much for one night.

"Scott, I don't know what's in her system," she heard Stiles telling his best friend. At this point, her eyes were unwillingly closing.

The last thing she saw before her eyes closed permanently was Scott's soft brown eyes. "She's starting to pass out. Let's take her back to my house, my mom can check her out. I'll go find Allison."

 **...**

The next time she woke up, she was really warm.

Extremely warm actually; she felt like she was lying in a pool of her own sweat. Once she opened her eyes, she realized she wasn't far from it. She was drenched and her hair was sticking to her face and neck. She was lying on a couch, in an unfamiliar living room, with Allison kneeling next to her, pressing a cold cloth to her forehead.

"Oh God, you're awake," she said in relief. Her eyes were slightly rimmed red, but before she could comment, she was lurching in her spot.

"I'm gonna be sick," she muttered, desperately looking for somewhere to empty out her insides.

She felt someone grab her arm. "This way." They quickly led her to a bathroom where she dropped to her knees and emptied out all the alcohol and whatever else was clouding her system. Whoever led her to the bathroom also knelt and gathered her hair behind her and tied it in a loose pony tail.

When she was finally done, she flushed and leaned against the counter. She felt like absolute death and only felt worse when she realized her helper was none other than her saviour, Stiles.

He didn't look angry, but he didn't look relieved either. He actually had no emotion on his face at all when he handed her a toothbrush with some toothpaste already on it. She took it silently and he waited while she finished.

"I really want to yell at you right now," he muttered once she finished. Lydia looked at him in surprise. "But you just got drugged and nearly raped so I'm going to save it for later."

Lydia stared at him with incredulous eyes. "I am the victim here! What the hell, Stiles?"

"You drank more than one bottle of tequila by yourself!" He replied, looking slightly pissed off. "You took a drink from a guy you didn't even know! For God's sake Lydia, tell me you know better than that."

The strawberry blonde placed a sassy hand on her hip and blocked the door when he tried to walk past her. "Are you saying I asked for this?"

"No, don't be stupid."

"Because that's what it sounds like!" She retaliated hotly.

Stiles closed his eyes and sighed. "I have to blame someone," he muttered, "so I don't go back to that party and bash that guy's face in."

Lydia's face softened and she suddenly felt very awkward. There weren't that many moments where her and Stiles weren't fighting, and although she was extremely thankful for what he did, she still didn't know how to react. "Oh," she breathed. "I, um, thank you," she cleared her throat nervously when he raised his eyes to look at her once again.

"Please don't thank me," he scoffed. "I would have done that for anyone. What he was trying to do, it was disgusting."

Lydia nodded, tossing her damp hair away from her face. "Still. I appreciate it."

"I'm glad you're okay," he said softly.

For the first time since she woke up, Stiles really looked at her. Her hair was messy and matted with sweat, her makeup smudged and she looked nervous standing there with him watching. The two of them rarely got along since they were kids, but he couldn't imagine himself walking by her and not doing what he did tonight. Just thinking about what could've happened if he wasn't there made his skin crawl. And when she passed out in his arms, his heart was hammering in his chest the whole drive to Scott's house. The relief that flooded him when Melissa said she would be just fine was an odd sensation for him, but he sort of liked it.

And then Scott walked by them in the bathroom and Stiles remembered what Lydia had seen.


	5. chapter five: werewolf

Lydia was starting to think she was certifiably insane.

There was no denying the fact that she somehow finds all the bodies in Beacon Hills, no matter how much she wanted to. She's still not sure why, but she's almost certain, Stiles and Scott know something about it. Then that brings her to Scott, and what she saw the night of the party when she was drugged.

She was drugged but she was so sure she saw his eyes glowing.

Is that even possible?

She wants to say she's positive, but every once in a while, she'll circle back and question it because she was drugged. That could have just been her imagination playing tricks on her.

But judging by the wat Scott looked at her when she exited his bathroom, she doesn't think it was her imagination.

After seeing Scott that night, she immediately sobered up, realizing it was late and she needed to get home. She quickly started mumbling and basically ran back to the living room to grab Allison and leave as fast as she could. She was stopped by Mrs. McCall who insisted on checking her out quickly before she left. Isaac appeared at the door and looking on guiltily.

"You pulled Scott away from the guy who did this?" She asked him as she checked Lydia's pupils; Isaac nodded. "I think that son of a bitch deserved a few hits."

Isaac cracked a smile. "Stiles already called his dad so he'll get what's coming."

Lydia turned to look at him with surprise. She hadn't even thought about pressing charges and she never expected Stiles to go out of his way to do this.

"Your system should be cleared by the morning. Just get some rest and drink lots of fluids, okay?"

Lydia nodded, "thank you Mrs. McCall."

"Please, call me Melissa," she replied, waving her hand dismissively. "And you let me know if this guy ever bothers you again. I'll kick his ass myself."

"I promise I will," Lydia laughed. "Thank you so much for your help. I'll see you soon, Isaac," she said as she inched for the door.

And now the whole weekend had passed in complete radio silence. Everyone was trying to give her space, and she appreciated it but as Monday morning rolled around, she felt lonely. And she hated to admit it, but she liked having them all around. Even Stiles, who had been moderately decent to her lately.

But she was done with the silence.

She knew what she saw and she knew Stiles and Scott had something to do with it. She was going to get answers.

Lydia was a little bit shy, but she was extremely determined. And she wasn't going to take shit from anybody, especially Stiles.

So it worked out perfectly when he was the first person she saw when she walked into school that morning. He was unfocused, closing his locker and starting to walk down the hall. She sped up, hastily grabbing the sleeve of his flannel and pulling him to the corner.

"What the hell?" He muttered before realizing who it was. "What do you want?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Good morning to you too, jackass, we need to talk and this can't wait."

"I'm sure it can," he started to walk away and with some newfound strength, she slammed him back into the lockers.

He stared at her, eyebrows raised. "No, I'm done waiting. We're talking now."

Stiles shifted uncomfortably in his black converse. "I have an important test in history this morning so…"

"Oh, you mean the class you share with Allison?" Lydia raised an eyebrow at his grimace. "That's funny, she hasn't mentioned anything. Why are you lying to me?"

He fumbled with his hands. "You should really be talking to Scott, I'm not good at giving this talk."

"What talk?" She begged. "Can you guys just tell me the truth for once? I honestly feel like I'm going insane and you guys don't care at all."

Stiles spared a look around. "I can't talk about this here."

Lydia wasted no time in leading him to an empty classroom with a pointed look. He looked exasperated but finally realized she was not giving up.

"So, I find dead bodies," she deadpanned.

Stiles nodded. "You did."

"Do you know why?"

"I'm not completely sure, but I think I have an idea."

Lydia instantly brightened up because this was the most information she's gotten in a while. "Are you going t—"

She was cut off by a loud noise against the window and she snapped her head around to see a smear of blood and black feathers. A bird had smashed against the glass and undoubtedly died.

"What the—" Stiles started muttering before two more hit the window and he flinched. They looked at the sky and it was like a swarm of black ravens heading in their direction. "Oh fuck!" He swore as they started smashing through the glass.

Lydia screamed, having no idea what else to do, and allowed herself to be pulled down by Stiles while he covered her with his body. She could hear the screeching of the birds and feel them as they tried to attack. It was completely bizarre; she could not remember something like this happening for a long time. It felt like forever, but it was finally over.

Stiles waited a few seconds before lifting himself off Lydia, where she was crouched and shaking. They spared a look around to see dead ravens everywhere.

Lydia wasted no time in rubbing to the garbage can to empty her insides, as it seemed she'd been doing a lot in Stiles's presence. Once again, he was behind her to hold her hair without any questions. Once she was done and had cleaned her mouth, she turned to him with frightened eyes.

"Did this have anything to do with what you need to tell me?

Stiles hesitated, but when he looked at her, he nodded. "I'm sorry, I need to go find Scott," he winced, expecting her to bring hell upon him for avoiding her once again, but she said nothing; her face was blank.

He started to retreat, meanwhile she stayed put with her face still blank. He wanted to run out of the room and find Scott, he needed to. But somehow, seeing her looking so lost and pale, he couldn't just leave her. He was convinced he was too nice sometimes.

"Hey, why don't you come with me?" He said softly, and she looked at him in surprise. "We should probably find a teacher or something."

Lydia nodded and followed him out of the room. Stiles shot a quick text to his dad about what happened, because the school would probably contact him anyway. He found Scott outside, holding hands with Kira as they sat on some rocks under a tree. It couldn't be more cliché if he tried so Stiles greeted them by rolling his eyes.

"Hey Scotty, we need to talk," he said abruptly, sending Kira innocent eyes.

She sighed, grabbing her stuff. "I got the message Stiles, thanks," he grinned innocently while she gave Scott a kiss on the cheek and said hi to Lydia before walking off.

"Hi Lydia," Scott said, a little shyly.

Lydia's face was still blank, but before she could say anything, Stiles cut in.

"We don't have time for this," he said rather rudely and Scott looked confused. "We just got attacked by fucking ravens."

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard me, ravens. Black birds about yay big," he gestured maniacally with his hands, "dozens of them slamming through the windows. Could you imagine if that's how I died? Pathetic, really."

Scott looked at Lydia again. "Is that why Lydia has feathers in her hair?"

Stiles turned around to look at the girl who was slightly hiding behind him. "Oh yeah," he plucked them out easily, ignoring when she flinched. "Speaking of, you gotta tell her man."

Scott looked panicked. "You said you would!"

"Turns out I'm pretty terrible at the whole 'making a speech' thing. It's more your thing," Stiles shrugged.

Lydia stared between the two.

"Stiles," Scott groaned.

"Fine. Do you really want me to tell her?" Stiles raised an eyebrow mischievously. "Lydia, sit down," he ordered, grabbing her shoulders, and sitting her next to Scott. They both looked extremely uncomfortable and Stiles just grinned. "Scott's eyes turn into glow sticks, he has claws and hair magically appears on his face and disappears moments later. He's a werewolf."

Scott closed his eyes, looking as if he was in literal pain. "Stiles, oh my god."

"Yeah, he even roars and everything. Mostly happens when he's angry because he's terrible at controlling his anger, as you saw the other night. But likely, Isaac and I are great at helping. Oh, and speaking of, Isaac is a werewolf too."

"What?" Lydia snapped, stunned.

"Stiles!" Scott groaned.

Lydia couldn't even believe what she was hearing. What the hell?

"You're a what?" She exclaimed angrily. "How the hell does that even happen?"

"He was bit," Stiles quipped and Scott glared at him. "What? You were."

"How long?" She demanded, looking at Scott.

"Since freshman year," he replied.

Lydia looked absolutely stunned. "And Isaac?" She asked breathily. She was starting to get overwhelmed.

"The same."

Lydia closed her eyes for a moment. "My best friend has been a freaking werewolf for over a year and I had no idea?" She was angry now.

"We didn't tell anyone," Scott responded quickly. "It was such a hard time Lydia, it was hard to trust anybody."

"You trusted him!" She spat, pointing to Stiles who looked offended.

"Hey, they would not have gotten through it if it wasn't for me!" He snapped. "I get that you're confused and angry but this is not my fault."

Lydia ignored him. "And why am I finding the dead bodies?"

"I'm not sure," Scott bit his lip, "I've been reading up on it through and a reoccurring term keeps coming up; banshee. Do you know what that is?"

"Of course, I know what that is," she snapped. "You think I'm a banshee? I don't even scream, or hear voices. You're wrong."

"She's in denial," Stiles muttered under his breath in a sing-song tone.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Shut up. We're done here," she grabbed her stuff and stood up. "This is crazy. Talk to me when you have some real answers," and she stalked away.

"Rawr," Stiles muttered under his breath. "She's gonna be a challenge."


	6. chapter six: us

"Lydia, please stop and listen to me."

"No. Now, can you stop following me? I'm running out of doors to slam on you."

It had been two days since Scott and Stiles's supernatural revelation and Lydia was not taking it lightly. She's not particularly angry with Scott. She has known him for as long as she can remember but they have never been close friends; she wouldn't expect him to ever tell her something like that. She didn't exactly have a reason to be mad at Stiles, but she was; there was still something so irritating about him.

But Isaac, on the other hand.

She has been neighbors with him since her birth, therefore meaning they have been friends since around she could speak. He was like her annoying older brother that she couldn't seem to get enough of, so she can't possibly understand how he could keep something so tremendous from her.

"It was a very scary time for me—"

"I don't care," she rolled her eyes, speeding up her pace.

She was no match to Isaac's long legs and he finally looped in front of her and cornered her into the lockers. "No, you need to listen to me," he demanded with captivating eyes. "I was fucking terrified. Can you even imagine walking in the woods at night and somehow being attacked by this unidentifiable thing?"

He was staring at her so intently, Lydia had to look away. She still didn't say anything so he proceeded.

"That night is when Scott got bit too; Stiles somehow managed to go unnoticed, but he was there and he saw everything. That's why he knew," Lydia bit her lip, a slight feeling of guilt at the way she spoke to him the day before. "I had both of them and we somehow made it work, I still don't know how," he dropped his head, huffing a laugh. "I just don't want you to think I purposely avoided telling you, we just decided it was better for everyone."

Lydia nodded, still feeling slightly awkward. "I probably overreacted."

"No, it's fine," Isaac replied quickly, "I mean, I totally get it. I would be pissed too, it's kind of a big deal to find out. I just never expected to be finding all these dead bodies, usually nothing serious ever happens here."

Lydia grimaced. "Yeah, I know, and I don't know why the hell I keep finding them," She noticed his face soften as he opened his mouth to speak. "No, stop right there. If you're just going to tell me the same bullshit Scott was saying, you can save it."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "It's not bullshit, I can assure you he probably knows much more about this than you do."

"Well, it's wrong," she replied stubbornly. "And you know what—"

She was about to start a very sassy rant about how she was basically a genius and was nearly never wrong, when she had to stop because she couldn't breathe.

Her eyes widened and her chest constricted, but she still couldn't catch her breathe.

"Lydia, what the fuck?'

Isaac was talking and touching but she couldn't feel a thing. Her head felt like it was going to explode and she was gasping for air that was nowhere to be found.

She suddenly gripped his bicep when it stopped and she was able to take a breath. But it was short lived because only a second later, a scream was erupting from inside her chest; a loud, blood curling scream, unlike anything she'd ever heard before.

It absolutely stunned her.

Isaac was forced to let her go when he crumpled to the ground, hands clutching his ears as he groaned in the most painful way she'd ever heard. He stayed there until the scream was finished, because he couldn't even think with the vibrations running through his skull.

"Oh my god, Isaac," Lydia mumbled, dropping to her knees to grab his face in between her hands. Her fingers were instantly coated with blood that she realized was dripping from the inside of his ears. It was then that she realized she was crying. "What have I done?" She mumbled.

Isaac shook his head, wincing. "Hey, no, it's okay," he tried to reassure her.

She unfortunately wasn't having it. She was terrified of what she somehow just did and she flinched when main doors beside her burst open. Scott and Stiles came running through, their eyes flickering from Isaac still bleeding on the ground and to Lydia, crying and trying to breathe properly. She took a long look at Scott, noticing the harsh redness around his eyes and she swears she paled even more.

"Oh my god, what did I do?" She murmured, absentmindedly pulling her hair. The tears wouldn't stop and her breathing was staring to become hysterical as she kept murmuring to herself.

Scott rushed to Isaac's side, helping him up and shooting Stiles a sharp look.

"What?" Stiles hissed, eyes darting between his best friend and the girl who looked like she was seconds away from a mental breakdown. Of course, Scott was leaving Stiles to deal with it.

Stiles hesitantly stepped towards her, cringing as he placed a hand on her shoulder; she flinched. "Lydia—" he started to say before she whirled around and ran into his chest. He stopped, stunned as she cried loudly. He shared a worried look with both boys before awkwardly patting her back, which turned into comfortable back rubs.

The last thing on Lydia's mind was that she was crying into Stiles's chest. She couldn't care less as she was hiccupping and clutching onto his biceps for dear life.

"Lydia," Scott whispered delicately, waiting until she was ready to pull her head away from Stiles's chest. She did, but they all noticed how she stayed curled in his embrace. Stiles had to admit he didn't mind as much as he should. "Hey, we want to help you. I don't know much about this banshee thing, but if you ever find yourself near a body again, call me. If you ever need anything, I don't care if it's fucking ice cream after a bad date, please call us."

Lydia sniffed, nodding. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt any of you," she kept her eyes on Scott and he grinned sheepishly.

"It's nothing we can't handle Lyds, I promise," Isaac shot her a smirk. "It's going to take much more than a scream to take me down."

Lydia instantly stiffened, pushing Stiles away who felt a little offended if he was being honest. "If I screamed, that means there's another body, right?" They all fell silent. "Someone is going to die."

"And you're going to find the body."

…

Fast forward a few hours later and Lydia has completely forgotten about her break down in front of dumb and dumber (she still loved Scott). She was a little embarrassed, but she's dealing with it.

After the revelation that someone was inevitably going to die, they knew it was only a matter of time before Lydia went wandering to wherever the dead body was. And so, none of the boys wanted to leave her alone. She somehow convinced them she'd be fine and she promised to call if anything happened. She only thinks they agreed because Scott and Isaac were running late for a test.

"Are you okay?" Stiles blurted out as soon as his friends left. He always had a thing for crying girls and he had seen her cry way too much lately.

"I'm really not," she replied bitterly and Stiles resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I just found out I'm fucking supernatural. Like what the hell?"

Stiles leaned against the lockers, a mischievous glint to his eyes. "Well, if only you'd listened to us yesterday."

"Don't pull that bullshit on me," Lydia rolled her eyes, "I had just found out two people I know were freaking werewolves. Give me a break."

"I mean, it's just a little stupid. You wanted answers for so long and when you got them, you totally ignored them."

Lydia glared at him. "Yes, because they came from you. After I asked multiple times, to which you just lied to my face."

"It wasn't my secret to tell," he replied, looking her in the eye. He was right and she knew it, but her ego wouldn't let him win.

"So, it didn't matter how much you saw me struggle? How I was literally losing my mind because I didn't know what was happening with me?"

Stiles rolled his eyes to avoid looking guilty. "Lydia, I'm sorry," she raised an eyebrow at his apology, unsure if he was being genuine. "Believe me when I tell you, it sucked seeing you like that, but I just couldn't," she went to reply, but he ignored her and kept talking, "but listen to me now; you're one of us now, and I want to help you."

Lydia's eyebrows shot up near her hairline. "This is weird."

"Oh, I totally agree," he laughed nervously. "But it looks like we'll be spending a lot of time together from now on and I don't need to keep stuff from you anymore."

She studied him cautiously. "Okay," she agreed. "Don't get the wrong idea though, I still don't like you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he replied with a cheeky smirk and a wink.

It was a classic Stiles response, so she's not sure why her heart started fluttering.


	7. chapter seven: crash

After finding out half of her friends were supernatural, things had been slow.

There were no further animal attacks, and no voices or screaming. She still hadn't ventured out to find the body she assumed belonged to the scream that nearly left Isaac deaf, but she didn't doubt it would be happening soon. The guys had all agreed Allison should know as well, since she and Lydia were a package deal and there was no way Lydia could keep all this from her.

So, Scott invited the two of them to his house for a "movie marathon" later that day.

If Lydia thought she had it bad when she found out her friends were supernatural, this was nothing in comparison.

The only word she could use to describe the atmosphere was awkward. Lydia and Allison arrived fashionably late to see all three boys huddling around the kitchen island nervously (it was really only Isaac; he looked like a wreck).

"So, what movie are we watching first?" Allison asked cheerily, completely oblivious.

Scott scratched the back of his head. "We actually invited you here to talk."

"Oh," she furrowed her eyebrows, "is this about Lydia and the bodies? Do you guys know anything?"

Lydia rolled her eyes because for once she didn't want the conversation to lead back to her. "No. I mean, yes, but not right now."

Stiles stifled a laugh and she shot him a sharp look. "Lydia isn't the only one in this room with weird abilities."

Allison's eyes widened. "You too?"

Scott snorted, "oh god, no way in hell."

"Okay, you're gonna pay for that one," Stiles replied sassily, elbowing his best friend. "Allison, how familiar are you with werewolves?"

Allison's eyes widened once again. "Um, not very?"

"Because that's what Scott and Isaac are," Stiles deadpanned. Lydia rolled her eyes; he was really bad at breaking the news to people. Scott and Isaac were already shaking their heads, but Stiles looked very pleased with himself.

"What?"

Lydia decided to take over because Isaac looked like he was going to throw up and Scott, like he was planning Stiles's murder. "The supernatural exists," Allison looked dumbfounded. "I don't know how, but it does. Werewolves exist and one of them attacked Scott and Isaac one night, so now they're werewolves."

There was silence for the next ten seconds and Lydia was worried Allison was going to pass out.

But suddenly, she started laughing.

"What's going on?" Stiles whispered, staring at her.

When no one else started laughing, Allison stopped and said, "oh my god, you're serious?"

"Quite serious. Their eyes glow and they have claws and fangs and they're actually really ugly if I'm being honest—ow!" Lydia had smacked his stomach with a huff. "And our dear Lydia here is also supernatural, she's a banshee."

Allison looked so confused, it was adorable. "What the hell is a banshee?"

"Basically, it means I scream when someone is going to die and then magically find the body," Lydia replied, wrinkling her nose. It sounded extremely morbid when she explained it like that. "It's really fun, to be honest."

"I need to sit down," Allison muttered, and Isaac pulled out a chair. "So, you're a werewolf," she pointed at Scott and he nodded. "And you are too?" Isaac nodded, looking slightly guilty. "And you find dead bodies."

Stiles nodded on Lydia's behalf. "I'm not really sure how that whole thing works yet, but I've been doing research. It's a little difficult because no one actually believes banshees are real."

"Actually, that reminds me," Scott mentioned, turning to Stiles, "did your dad say anything about the bodies Lydia found?"

Stiles frowned. "No. He's kept quiet, I'm not really sure what that means. He hasn't mentioned the bird attack either," he gestured to Lydia, "I think he has enough animal attacks on his hands as it is."

After that, the conversation dwindled down to short small talk. "Hey Lydia, we should head out soon."

"Are you sure?" Scott interjected. "We can totally watch a movie and I can order some pizza or something."

Allison shook her head, smiling politely. "No, it's okay. I really just need time to process this all. We'll talk tomorrow at school!"

If the news affected her in any way, she was hiding it especially well. With a smile on her face, she made her way to the door, Lydia following behind cautiously. She shared a glance with Isaac who was biting his lip nervously, but she just sent him a reassuring smile. He always knew Lydia would have his back.

"Hey," Allison whirled around suddenly, after opening the front door. "I really do appreciate you guys trusting me with this."

Scott sent her a friendly smile. "Of course."

…

"What the hell just happened?" Allison breathed as soon as Lydia pulled out of Scott's driveway. She started laughing again because that was just her automatic go-top nervous tick. Finding out your best friends are supernatural is not something to be taken lightly; it can't be. It's a completely new atmosphere and life and it was really going to take her more than five minutes to get over it.

Lydia frowned, patting her knee quickly. "If it makes you feel better, I lost my shit when I found out too."

"When did you find out?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

Lydia snorted before saying, "I saw Scott's eyes glowing when I was drugged out of my mind. I also figured something was up when he kept avoiding the topic of the dead bodies."

"This is freaking nuts."

"This doesn't change anything though, right?" Lydia asked quietly.

Allison turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"Like between us. I have no idea what being a banshee even means, but it's probably going to come with some pretty fucked up stuff. If you're not okay with that, I totally und—"

"Lydia, for the love of god, stop right there," Allison interrupted, laughing. "We have been friends for a long as I can remember. You better not think that some supernatural shit is gonna change that."

For a second, Allison was appalled that Lydia would even think she would ever abandon her like that. But then she remembered, being thrust into this world without any knowledge of it in the first place, could not have been easy.

"If you want to go out and find dead bodies, great, I'll be right there with you," she added, grinning at her. "This is probably gonna be scary as hell for you, but you're not doing this alone."

Lydia smiled, genuinely feeling happy with the words of her best friend. "So, I'm assuming this doesn't change your feelings for Isaac either?"

Allison's face instantly heated up and Lydia didn't even bother holding in her laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not blind, Ally."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," she responded, "but no, nothing has changed."

"Fantastic. But can you guys speed things along because I'm getting really tired of him staring at you like a puppy dog."

Allison rolled her eyes, muttering, "okay, Lydia." Her eyes caught on the side mirror, squinting at something she saw. "Lydia, did you see that?" She asked her friend, both of them turning around to look behind them, as they were stopped at a red light.

Lydia was about to speak, but as usual in her past few days, something extreme happened before she even had the chance. She heard the crash before she felt the shards of glass against her skin, but as she whirled back around, she was stunned.

It was a deer.

It had somehow crashed right into the middle of her car, straight through the windshield, with its poor head hanging through it. It was when Lydia felt the first of the glass shards hit her skin that she felt it; the overwhelming aura around her that shocked her to the core. She knew this was more than just an innocent deer crash. She could feel it radiating off the deer, along with its' fear.

Her throat felt raw from screaming as she rushed out of the car as fast as possible. She looked around, expecting to find Allison, but she didn't see her anywhere. "Allison?" She yelled in alarm. She rushed over to the passenger's seat and ripped open the door, only to find Allison with her hands pressed against her abdomen.

There was a large shard of glass lodged in her stomach and Lydia immediately paled.

"Oh my god," she muttered. But then it was as if something switched inside her, where her panic disappeared. It was probably the adrenaline, knowing she couldn't save Allison's life if she was busy panicking. "Keep your hands on the wound, press hard," she instructed Allison, who was doing her best to keep her face calm. Lydia pulled out her cellphone as she helped Allison press it down.

"What a day," Allison joked quietly, breathing deeply.

Lydia sent her a fond smile. "We actually have the worst luck on the planet."

With her cellphone, she quickly called 911 and demanded an ambulance immediately. Afterwards, she dialed Isaac's number.

"Hey Lydia! How's Allison? Is she freaked out? Does she still like me? What did y—"

"Isaac, listen!" Lydia interrupted hotly. She could see Allison's eyelids start to get heavy and she knew she couldn't let her pass out. "Quick, I don't have much time. A deer ran into us when I was driving home. It wasn't normal, it came straight down the middle and I don't know what it means. I'm fine but a shard of glass pierced Allison's stomach. Ambulance is on their way, meet me at the hospital!"

"Wha—oh my god," Isaac hesitated. Lydia could tell he wanted to say more but he knew there was no time. "Fuck, okay, I'll meet you there."

Lydia shoved her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She was down on her knees, using both hands to press of the wound. Allison's arm had become tired and she couldn't hold on anymore. "Hey Ally, you know you can't close your eyes. You have to stay awake, right here with me, okay?

Allison had a lazy smile on her face, her eyes open, but far away. "I just need to sleep a little. I love you."

And then Allison passed out and all the panic Lydia had been feeling earlier came rushing back. She didn't even realize she was crying until the paramedics told her she could take her hands off the wound now. She did and her hands were covered in blood. She watched as they loaded her up onto the stretcher and into the back of the ambulance.

The paramedic in charge looked at her before closing the door to the rig. "Are you coming?"


	8. chapter eight: sweater

The paramedic was talking but Lydia couldn't hear a thing.

She could see him working, his hands flying all over Allison's limp body and his mouth spewing words she didn't know the meaning of. Her genius IQ was high enough that she knew she was in shock, but she just couldn't snap out of it.

She could recall arriving at the hospital and watching as they loaded the stretcher out. She saw doctors come rushing out in colored gowns, like an episode of Grey's Anatomy and she still couldn't move. The paramedic muttered something to one of the doctors and suddenly, she was being helped along to the waiting area, watching as they wheeled her best friend away.

She still couldn't move.

That's how Isaac found her; immobilized, pale and empty-eyed.

"Lydia, oh my god," he mumbled, pulling her to her feet to crush her in a hug. "We were so worried. Are you okay?"

She didn't reply and he pulled away to study her. Her eyes flickered to Scott and Stiles looking on worriedly, but she still couldn't speak.

"Hey Lydia, you're bleeding," Stiles commented, walking closer to inspect, but couldn't see any signs of injury. There was blood all up her arms and across her torso, but then he noticed the blood all over her hands. "It's not yours."

Isaac paled, "oh god," he muttered turning to Scott. "Scott, I need to find your mom. She needs to be okay."

Scott nodded, "okay, let's go find her."

Isaac looked hesitant to leave Lydia. She was staring blankly ahead, almost as if catatonic. "It's okay, I'll stay with her," Stiles reassured him and both boys took off.

Stiles sat Lydia back down. Her face was still blank but now she was playing with her fingers nervously. "I can tell you're in shock," he started saying, "it's totally normal. That must've been hard. But she's going to be okay, you know? She's strong."

"There was so much blood," he was surprised that she said anything at all and his neck snapped up. She was staring at her hands, eyes watery. "Look at all this blood. It's not mine," her hands were starting to shake. "This isn't mine, it's not mine," she started to frantically rub her hands on her thighs and the tears finally fell. "I need to get this off! I need it off now!" She screamed, grabbing the hem of her shirt, and pulling it away from her sticky skin.

Stiles rushed into action, grabbing her hands, and pulling her up with him. "Okay, hold on, hold on!"

He quickly led them to a single washroom, painfully listening to her cry. "It's so much blood," she whined, scrubbing her arms and hands under the faucet.

Stiles held back for a moment, letting her do what she needed to. She was a mess. Her hair was messy and half undone from where it was pinned, her mascara was running down her cheeks where blood was smeared and her blouse was completely covered in blood. She was crying and she wasn't stopping and Stiles felt absolutely helpless.

"I can't get this off!" Lydia screamed and he finally snapped out of his thoughts.

He shoved up the sleeves of his black sweater and cautiously approached her. "Hey, I'm going to help you, is that okay?" She looked up at him with watery eyes and nodded. "Okay, great."

In silence, Stiles used the soap dispenser and gently cleaned the blood off her arms and hands. Afterwards, he grabbed a moist paper towel and rubbed off the smears of blood and mascara from her face. She stopped crying.

"I can't wear this shirt anymore," Lydia said quietly. She was looking down and Stiles was afraid she'd start crying again.

"Here, take it off," he replied and she raised her eyebrows but he was shrugging off his zip up sweater and handing it to her. "You can wear this."

Lydia lifted the blood-soaked shirt off her body in one quick movement. She was far too distraught to be embarrassed and he was far too worried to care that she was only wearing a bra. He helped her into the sweater, which was too baggy, but fit how she needed it to.

"Thank you," she whispered, grabbing his arm. He looked at her in surprise. "She's going to be okay, right?"

Stiles's heart nearly broke at the sight of her desperate eyes and the way she clutched onto him so tightly. He grabbed her hand and used his other to throw her blouse in the garbage. "She's a fighter and she'll pull through."

Lydia managed a weak smile, but it was definitely an improvement. "Let's find Isaac," she replied. Stiles was thoroughly surprised when she didn't let go of his hand but used their contact to pull him out of the washroom and back to their original spot.

Stiles was pretty intelligent and he could spot the tell-tale signs of shock. He could also tell that Lydia was in a vulnerable state and she needed some sort of human contact to get her through everything she was feeling. He didn't mind that she chose him.

Isaac and Scott had returned by the time they got back and Lydia asked them what they knew with hopeful eyes.

"She's still in surgery. She lost a lot of blood." Isaac's voice was still shaking and Lydia started to cry again. "But it's okay, she's going to be okay, Lyds."

Stiles didn't even realize he was rubbing her back until she turned abruptly and buried her face into his chest. He was surprised at the contact and just stood there for a moment but after Scott's prompting with widened eyes, he resumed his back rubbing.

"They just had to stop the bleeding. But she's going to be fine, it didn't hit anything major," Scott said, wanting Lydia to feel a little more relief.

"Thank god," she sniffed, finally moving away from Stiles.

Isaac sent her a warm smile. He was actually so glad she was okay. He would have literally lost his shit if she got hurt too. So much was happening with her lately, he wouldn't have been able to live with himself. But she was okay. She looked extremely stressed and distraught but it was all going to be okay. "We should probably get you home now. Get some sleep, take a shower."

"I'm not going anywhere," Lydia replied immediately, giving him a hard stare.

He should've expected this.

"I talked with my mom, she said she'd give me hourly updates. There's nothing you can do here, Lydia," Scott replied sympathetically.

Lydia looked down, fiddling with her hands nervously. "I just want to be here for her."

"Hey, you've done an amazing job, okay?" Isaac reassured her. "You kept her alive and now there's nothing else you can do. It's time to take care of you too."

Lydia looked conflicted; she didn't want to leave but she was actually exhausted. "Okay. But I'll be back in the morning."

"Deal, so will I," he smiled. "Hey Stiles, do you mind dropping her off? I can just go with Scott."

Stiles nodded without thinking much about it. "Yeah sure, I'll see you guys tomorrow." The two boys said their goodbyes to Lydia before they left. It took him a second but then he remembered how Isaac was literally Lydia's neighbor. So it would've made more sense for him to just come with them. And then he caught onto the wiggle of Scott's eyebrows and it all made sense.

Stiles rolled his eyes; it's not like he had a girlfriend or anything.

"Stiles?" He froze at the sound of the voice. Oh no, why did he have to mention her? "What the hell are you doing here with her?"

"Oh fuck," Stiles muttered.

He turned around to see Malia, shooting Lydia a dirty look with a sassy hand on her hip. "I'm waiting. And—is she wearing your sweater?"

Stiles flinched again and Lydia could picture so many other scenarios she would rather be in right now. It had been a long night and at this point, Malia pushing her buttons was not a good idea.

"Her and Allison were in an accident. I came with Isaac and Scott and her shirt was full of blood."

For a second, he thought she would understand with no problem because any rational person would. But then again, Malia is not rational.

"Take it off."

"What?" Stiles's eyes widened.

She was looking at Lydia and Stiles thought he was going to pass out. "I'm telling Lydia to take off the sweater. Who does she think she is, wearing my boyfriend's clothes?"

Lydia's eyes were completely dull and after everything that happened today, she couldn't believe she had to deal with this bullshit. "Malia, it was a fucking accident. Do you have any morals? My shirt was soaked with blood, I had to throw it out."

Lydia was absolutely dumbfounded that she didn't even care her shirt was covered in blood. That means someone was severely hurt and she didn't even care.

"Malia, what are you even doing here?" Stiles interjected, trying to deflect the conversation from where he saw it was going.

She ignored him, of course. "I don't care. Take off the fucking sweater before I rip it off."

Lydia stared at her with incredulous eyes. She looked to Stiles and he looked stunned like a goldfish but also didn't say anything. She rolled her eyes, anger simmering beneath her bones. "This is fucking ridiculous," she muttered angrily. "You want the sweater? Here, fucking have it!" She yelled, unzipping the sweater and throwing it in her face.

Now Stiles's eyes widened because Lydia was left in just her bra. She was angry and she was breathing heavily and he'd be lying if he didn't admit his eyes fell down to where her chest was heaving. Thank God Malia was too pissed off to notice.

"Thank you," Malia sent her a sweet smile and holy shit, Stiles couldn't believe what just happened.

"You're such a fucking bitch, oh my god," Lydia snapped. Stiles was running his hands through his hair because he literally had no idea what to do. "I'm leaving, this is ridiculous."

Stiles was still stunned but he snapped out of it once he saw Lydia storming her way out. "Shit, Lydia wait!"

"Stiles, what are you doing?" Malia demanded.

"I'm her ride home! What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you do that?" He finally woke up enough to say anything. "That's fucked up, Malia. Her best friend almost died tonight."

He didn't stick around to see her face and hopefully her expression of guilt. He just chased after Lydia and of course she was already heading for the road. At one in the morning. In just her bra. For fuck sakes.

"Lydia! Hold on!" He yelled, jogging until he caught up with her. "I'm driving you home. Are you insane? You're wearing only a bra and it's freezing!"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "It's not like you really tried to keep the sweater or anything."

"What was I supposed to say? She's my girlfriend."

Lydia's eyes crinkled because she couldn't even fathom what he was saying. "And what the hell does that matter? She's fucking psychotic, it's a stupid sweater!"

"You're right," he admitted. "That was messed up and I should've said something, and I didn't. I'm sorry."

He looked sincere and Lydia just didn't have it in her to argue anymore. "Can you please just take me home?"

Stiles nodded and led her back to his jeep. He also rummaged through the back seat and passed her one of his old lacrosse hoodies. He watched her hesitate to take it, but she finally did when he all but shoved it in her face. They drove home in silence and once they reached her house, Stiles said, "I'll be back here in the morning to drive you back to the hospital."

"No, it's fine. I can just go with Isaac," she replied, making her way out of the jeep.

"I'll be back here in the morning to take you to the hospital," he repeated, shooting her a look that meant no discussion.

Lydia nodded, allowing a small smile to grace her features so he would know she's not completely pissed at him. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

82 - 1337


End file.
